Trump's proposed STEM budget cuts a grave mistake

CNN) — In the 1950s, the late physicist Charles Townes was told he was wasting his time inventing lasers (a kind of powerful light source explained by a theory Albert Einstein published a century ago).

Ponder this every time you fire up your computer hard drive, or when a loved one receives life-saving cancer treatment -- both rely on Townes' lasers. In fact, today lasers are an essential part of modern telecommunications, guidance systems, computers, medical treatments (including surgery), civil construction, astronomy, weaponry, harnessing nuclear fusion for energy, and much, much more.

Estimates of the economic impact of lasers today run to trillions of dollars worldwide.

The message here? Revolutionary scientific discoveries can seem obscure and even unimportant when they are first made -- but can have enormous impact decades downstream, reaching into every part of our lives and rendering unimaginable a time when they were not there.

But they don't spring fully formed from the scientist's minds; they take time, sweat, passion, imagination -- and money.

Last month the Trump administration proposed devastating new cuts in funding for STEM research -- STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics. President Donald Trump's first full budget proposes to slash research dollars by nearly 17% for fiscal year 2018.

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